The Lady May Laugh and the Devil Never Cry
by Fenrir's Lockhart
Summary: Mismatched eyes cynically glared and glossy lips silently criticized the new logo. When Lady gratefully returns to "Devil May Cry" after a long time away, she discovers the half demon had changed the name of the infamous agency in her absence...The female devil hunter does not approve. She knows it shouldn't bother her…but it does. It REALLY does. Post DMC 1, Pre-anime. Implied DxL
1. Mission 1

**Mission 1: Home Is Where the Devil Is**

_**{A/N}**__ So this takes place after Devil May Cry 3 and 1 and about a year before the start of the anime when he changes "Devil Never Cry" back to "Devil May Cry" for a second time. This is the story of how it came about. So Lady doesn't know who Trish is yet, and Trish just left "Devil Never Cry" to go solo. It's canonical that Lady first met Trish in episode 4 of the anime. I'd imagine Trish worked with Dante for about 1 year or 2….since Lady would have known about Trish if it were longer. And if Lady went abroad for a while, I don't think it'd be for very long either. SO, my headcanon is Trish worked with Dante for two years, and Lady was out of his life for those same two years. When Trish left, Lady came back. They never met._

_I'm sure DantexLady fans will enjoy, but don't expect pure fluff between them…I tried to keep it canonical to the events of the games and anime…where they started giving each other somewhat of a cold shoulder. BUT, there are subtle implications of their complicated romance all over the place! Well, you'll see._

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Devil May Cry or anything related to this franchise, because if I did, I would have found some way to sneak even more delicately implied scenes with Dante and Lady's romantic relationship somewhere along the line. It all goes to Capcom.

* * *

**Mission 1: Home is Where the Devil Is**

The woman steadied her futile, rushed gait on the concreted boulevard. By the time she got off the express train, the sun creeping to dominate the gentle, pardoning sky, the brunette soon realized with an exasperated huff, that any hope of arriving at Devil May Cry before 3 p.m. was preposterous. Fashionably late became an unintended specialty of hers…

Besides, it wasn't as if _he_ was expecting her to stop by at all anyway. At first, she wanted to place a "professional" call to the ill-reputed devil hunting agency on the nearby payphone, but then thought better of the idea; as the element of surprise may work in her favor in seeing the man. It'd been quite a time since they'd remained in contact…

And other than that guy, she sadly had no one else to visit in Capulet City. What did it matter if she arrived later than she planned?

Occasionally, an ordinary citizen was passed as well as tall structures that still felt so familiar in spite of these passing years. The leather strap of the cloth concealed weapon slung over one shoulder was regularly adjusted. Thus, it wouldn't ache from the heavy pressure niggling away at her sore collarbone. Even so, never did a complaint arise about walking the rest of the distance from the train station…or carrying this constant burden, _this constant reminder_. _He _would never complain either, about his own weight he would forever bear upon his back. "Wonder how he's been doing, working alone these last years…" the dark haired girl murmured aloud, envisioning the same white haired friend she planned to visit this day.

Morning ceased to be. A good breakfast had eluded her altogether…as was recalled in aversion over the locomotives' revolting _slop_ the servers called _food_. The noontime sun nearly besieged the blue firmament. Clouds endeavored to cover the light, the slight fragmented rays barely making it through, but the white cover was again cast aside as the day progressed. The bright, intolerable glare burned her contradicting retinas, as if she was some form of a vampire; squinting, peering behind a hand, avoiding the sun as much as possible. Really, she was only tired. _Exhausted_, actually.

But this "vampiric" behavior this woman held… was also keeping in mind that odd nightly schedule she'd taken a recent fondness to. It coincided well with what she hunted.

Even so, the strange, unusual woman with the oddly concealed construct attached to her back, didn't hunt things as _mundane_ as humans long after the cathedral's midnight bell tolled. And she was well aware that monsters like "corny" vampires didn't exist…

No…not that kind of monster anyway.

By the way, the huntress still had that extra side job to attend to…

It couldn't be helped. She'd just have to arrive late after all.

The traveler possessing the chin length black locks swerved a sharp right; turning away from the comfort of the sunny bathed sidewalks and cut instead, into a remote alley giving minuet space between two skyscraping brick establishments. It permitted even less light past the mildew covered walls procuring more gloom…and shade. Quite an empty place, it seemed.

Garbage cans tipped onto their collapsed, corroded sides. Dirt and grime amassed after years with paltry upkeep. She walked with little hurry down the entire path, her peripheral vision glancing over boarded up side-doors and splintered windows, giving a small glimpse into long abandoned rooms filled with nothing more than cobwebs and further sprinkles of dust. Her new brown, knee length boots crunched on broken bits of glass, littered newspaper articles squished deep into mud, and smashed aluminum cans, their contents half-eaten away by bacteria. Maybe another girl would be too afraid to tread a shady alleyway alone, clinging onto the arm of her _strong_, _manly _hero. But as circumstances stood, this lady was nothing like any other girl; was desensitized to feelings of fear after the endless line of horrifying experiences marking her brief life thus far.

And she didn't exactly have a broad-shouldered man to hold onto…

…Even if she did, she never _would_ hold onto…_him_. Not…not like she was thinking of anyone specifically or anything.

No sooner, did the woman abruptly reach a dead end. A brick wall blocked the rest of the way out. She caught an accidental, sour whiff of a foul smelling liquid, like sulfur, dribbling from the building barrier and couldn't contain the instant reaction to pinch her nose in disgust. Always the dirty jobs…she wondered why she could have such poor luck. As it seemed, the greenish fluid slid from somewhere above.

Lady smirked, shut her eyes, and fully turned her back on the wall.

Speaking of monsters…one of them was _right on time_.

"KRAAWRRRRRRR!" screeched out the colossal demon, before bounding from where it clung to the top of the brick fortification.

The agile devil hunter luckily rolled beneath its bulk after first sliding Kalina Ann across the distance, as the demon smashed its piercing legs to the ground; eight of them exactly. Could have easily been the size of a small car, the slayer took into account.

"Well well. I've been expecting you." she jeered while using her thumb to rub away the dirt grazing her cheek. A beige sheet sailed into the air. The cloth covering briefly screened most of the sunshine from view…afore it landed softly atop the alley's floor. Having unraveled her rocket launcher, the cannon barrel pointed directly at the thorax of the grotesque creature.

Each of its legs was attached to a sharp edge at the tip. Four of them were akin to that of an oversized arachnid. Albeit the other four…closely and strangely resembled the arms of a humanoid, despite the claws protruding distortedly at each extra finger. The skin on the humanlike limbs was a ghastly gray, the same discoloring rotting corpses displayed when entering into a rigor mortis state. For the rest of the demon's body, it was eternally black besides the sulfuric green sludge seeping around the mouth, as if it were foam escaping a rabid hound's jaws.

Its bulging eyes rifled through the dark obscurity of the backstreet, searching for its fast prey with the overconfident demeanor. The bulbous bloodshot orbs were irregularly large; _nothing _like any normal spider or beast… There could have easily been over fifteen of the ugly eyeballs. They swelled up at unsystematic places across the demon's back.

When it caught sight of the woman, it lunged once more, screeching out that horrid call. This time it tried to bite down with incisors saturated with the same acidic material dripping on the wall. The slayer somersaulted back and blasted off her machinegun; the resulting torrent of bullets managing to breach one of its many veiny, eyes, the red lines resembling gnarly tree branches spreading to overcome the pupils entirely. Gushes of pus-like secretion mixed with more red sprung forth from the wound. She watched cautiously, firming her grip on the firearm as the thing shrieked in pure torment; clawing its forelegs across the ground and walls, stamping them repeatedly as if making the whole world shake beneath itself.

Deep gashes tore away stone where the immense being had scraped away. They'd be unexplainable for those uninitiated into the cruel truth of demon existence.

She quickly hid behind a dumpster. Stenches of unbearable proportions permeated from within, the source of which…a mystery better left unknown. She didn't care though, not now anyway. This gave just enough time to empty the gun and reload it with another magazine.

"DIE, HUMAN!"

Short-lived as it had been, a gasp _did_ escape Lady's lips as the demon spider tossed away her hidden position with one, powerful swipe. "Shit…" The garbage disposal barely missed hitting her. In the process, one of the handguns she'd pulled out slipped from her careless, sweaty fingers. "SHIT!" Lady was _far_ _more _upset about the inexperience she was exemplifying than the actual loss of the weapon…considering how a backup was ritually secured on the back of her pleated skirt.

"Don't you think that's a little _cliché _for an enemy to say to the heroine? Think of something more creative before you pick a fight WITH ME!" Two steady returning fingers clicked the triggers on both the machine gun and now a new handgun as well. Hot threads of deafening metal succeeded in hitting more of the demon's sullied pupils. The hideous monster retreated by scurrying higher up the walls. It could barely fit its enormous size into the tight fit of the lane, but it used the closeness as an advantage for hugging the sides of the buildings. For once, she thanked the sunlight for assisting to see this hidden foe.

Lady dashed after the demon, making way up the coal black steps of an abandoned fire escape, skipping one stair each time. Edging fast, she threw her guns and bullet cartridges into the air, and caught them; reloaded, with previsioned ease. More bullet holes racketed into the rusty red brick while the demon's bladelike arms savagely mauled the metal stairway.

They succeeded in avoiding each other's attacks. They failed in making their own attacks connect.

Then, the beast ceased its scuttling. Lady stopped as well.

The arachnid fiend was still three stories ahead. Using the grappling hook of Kalina Ann to propel her up a flight, she hung from the zip chord and continued to puncture the demon's gray-black flesh. Stabalizing herself, Lady's feet landed elegantly onto another, higher steel platform. The woman had to rapidly rotate herself to face this demon.

Now she could see it directly across plain as day. Pointing the artilleries, the demon hunter's bullets punctured several more of its eyes, more liquid bursting onto the buildings, the demon swaying slightly as if it were to just give in and collapse already.

Somehow, presumably unscathed, the beast lurched its four arachnid legs to spring forth from the wall, supplemented with another of its macabre screams, as four humanlike arms outstretched towards her. Her lips curved into an abnormally ominous grin. The guns were thrown right at the demons face…A bizarre…although successful way to stun it.

Kalina Ann's hook was skillfully drawn out from where it stuck within the wall. The rocket launcher was aimed. The well targeted projectile tore through the spider's hard exterior, and straight past its soft underbelly. It fell down the numerous stories and finally collapsed with a single ground fissuring thump. Lady tentatively looked down over the side of the fire escape's railing at the demon attempting to stand _again_ at the alley's base. With no hesitance, she hurdled herself from the ledge accompanied by Kalina Ann pointed vertically.

"Eat this, you son of a bitch!"

The bayonet blade of her rocket launcher soon lanced into the devil's back, making multiple swollen eyes pop open as the knife-edge was ripped out. Darkened spurt sprayed all around the already filth filled concrete, luckily not staining her white outfit while she jumped away.

If only_ he_ were here to see this…not like Lady _needed his_ help. Or…she thought with displeasure and mockery of her own weakness, wouldn't it be great if he'd showed up at the last moment, delivering the killing blow to show off? That dumbass would totally be the one to do that, and she unexpectedly felt her winding frown turn quickly into only a _partly_ scornful sneer. Somehow his stupid, cocky grin had a way of getting the better of her eventually, despite pissing her off to the point of wanting to fight him...again. Nonetheless, it wouldn't hurt to have another demon exterminator beside her now and then, fighting strong adversaries back to back, throwing each other grenades and guns, and high fiving at the end of it all. She'd love to prove to the infuriating man in red that she could be independent, or helpful too, that she could handle herself perfectly fine in the midst of a fight. Which, that was probably something the white haired half-demon already knew…but still…

It always felt to her like he'd only seen her in a defenseless, withdrawn state…So weak and confused… Then again, that was ironically one of the reasons she returned to this lively urban environment, Dante's home; so the fellow devil hunter could _help_ her with a particularly difficult job…

Or maybe that was just another excuse to come back and see if he was doing alright, when she wasn't doing so good.

She stopped. Lady warily beheld her shiftless shadow, the blackened space moving simultaneously with her own body...then sighed. Couldn't even trust her own damn shadow anymore. Who_ knows_ what kind of thing could be tracking her footsteps.

The woman dragged the sheet over. Kalina Ann was rewrapped inside. Once again like countless times before, the firearm was heaved over her unrelenting shoulder. In a way, this was a habit, an everyday routine, a way of life she'd been much accustomed to as years continued to pile up. Time didn't wait, neither did the demons, nor did Dante. She would just have to catch up eventually.

"What a nice way to start the day. I get back to Capulet City not even an hour ago and they're already welcoming me with open arms!" Lady found herself laughing while going to retrieve her guns she'd thrown earlier, tightly securing the machine gun in the fitted, leather belt loops laced around her thigh but keeping the small pistol on hand.

A few of the demon's legs continued to twitch, spasms like those of a demented epilepsy victim. Half blinded globes vacantly watched the demon slayer pacing ever closer. Tears never sprung forth from these enemies. Their half-dead stares always tinted over with unadulterated wrath by the end, a rage that couldn't quite be human.

Well, all besides a single enemy she once fought; _one devil_.

Sometimes…the black haired female wondered if she ever personified these same demons when she too had been young and fiery. _Killing with no remorse, destroying all who stood in the way as she climbed the steps of the dismal tower leading further to hell_. _Mary_…the person Lady chose to forget…had been searching for…no, _hunting_ the source of her resentment, the cause of her life and happiness being shredded away and viciously mutilated. Back then, she killed with nothing but fury...and _hatred_ inside. For the sake of her mother, revenge against her father. Had Lady really been all that different from a_ demon_? If so, what about _Dante_ then?

These thoughts are quickly blotted away from creased and closed memories.

"_Poor baby_. Maybe I should've gone a bit more easy on you, huh?" Lady taunted, leaning forward with two hands sassily returning to her hips.

In a final effort, one of the demon's fingerlike hands gripped her ankle, digging the sharp nails into her boot. The being unlocked its dark, cavernous maw, the acidic saliva pooling out, as it reached to clamp its bleeding jaws upon the devil hunter's torso.

"Or not." she smirked.

Another gunshot violently pierced the fleeting silence; a climatic finale to an abrupt end…

* * *

Two teenage boys had been attracted to the abnormal noises and loud gunshots pending from somewhere within the alleyway. They each dared the other to see what had happened, afraid as they were. Before they could decide who would eventually go…a woman retaining faded scars on her nose and thigh unexpectedly emerged from the darkness. They silently watched in awe, noticing the guns not fully concealed on her leg and front pleats of the miniskirt. When the woman proceeded they quickly stumbled out of her path.

She regarded them with a quick grin, before turning away and continuing on, like nothing at all had transpired.

"Who's _that _badass lady?" the older of the two boys managed to sputter out.

* * *

The lady was getting close.

From the distance, she could vaguely make out the pink neon lights, a few letters irregularly blinking on and off from poor maintenance or…faulty electricity. He was never very good at paying the bills on time, she remembers with an amused snicker.

She wouldn't admit her chest romped in the idea of seeing that very same old friend, which would be quite a mystery if he would feel the same. In a way…she felt afraid of returning; of what he might say about her disappearance for two years without a single phone call… They'd argued over something pointless a few days before Lady left too, something they'd done so many times she thought they'd gotten sick of if they hadn't grown out of it first… The only thing she left in his care was her motorcycle.

Slowing her steps somewhat, Lady took in the full sight of the office…exhaling the long held back breath, allowing herself to feel content at the familiarity of it all, how sentimentality was something she never believed to hold anywhere within her closed off core. This was probably the most normal aspect of her life. There had always been somewhere for the woman to return to, even if she'd never ever stay for long. Devil May Cry had become something of a home for the aging girl; that lone little pillar standing resolute…in a big world overrun by demons.

The makeshift shop tugged her back to days long past…Those times really _had_ past in such a quick blink; sometimes Lady still revisited memories of when they'd first been dragged into the route of inevitable and all encompassing death. She sort of...missed those days, when they _had_ to be around each other. When they actually _needed_ one another...

They'd seen each other hit rock bottom once, she remembers. Both their blackened, buried hearts had been torn and chewed out after the events of Temen Ni Gru, _after both losing something precious_. She knew that very well. The years of demon fighting that followed became a normalcy and that was what strangely ended up healing the two surviving fighters. That, as well as living together; helping the other stand when they themselves were so very ready to fall. They were kind of like two crumbling support beams, Lady thought, giggling sweetly at the cruel irony. Two support beams craned lopsidedly, perpetually ready to plummet, that ultimately stopped the other by only collapsing part way into each other…her and Dante. Brief as it was, Lady did end up staying with the same guy she'd once beared no hesitance in destroying, but then soon trusted entirely after Temen Ni Gru's events. Back then, they assisted each other to stand on wobbly, lost feet. It was something she wouldn't ever forget about the demon man. It was something Lady wished she'd been able to thank him for.

But that was too long ago to regret remembering. Life soon went on…as did the hunters.

Lady moved out not even a year after Devil May Cry had been officially named. The female exterminator never exactly _worked_ with Dante, at least not as a partner status. They disagreed on far too many things for that to succeed, would only interefere in each other's work rather than teaming up well all the time. Therefore, they'd usually fought demons separately more and more. And years would go by.

The two individuals had functioned day to day while pushing back all the loathing and self-hatred, while never forgetting the past, although allowing themselves to comprehend it _was _the past now, nothing more. All the struggle they'd endured _so far_ was over. But, the future was still to be paved and strewn with the blood and guts of both the innocent and the demons they would soon come to slaughter. That much was for sure. Dante and Lady accepted that. It was their life, their responsibility.

Of course, the two of them had always given each other useful tips along their separated, yet linked paths, and sometimes she'd send odd jobs in his direction too…especially the ones that didn't pay _her_ enough. Then one day, she just left abroad to go find demons in far off places, leaving behind Capulet City and also…leaving behind Dante.

Now here Lady was; returning to dusty ol' Devil May Cry after a couple of years avoiding the place. She hadn't thought of planning her visit. She never did. With all that they'd been through together, all the tragedy, _all the hell_, it didn't seem _fitting_ to matter much.

It was because of that, Lady decided to change that fear and uncertainty… She closed her eyes again, and breathed, a weird habit Lady hated, that the demon exterminator knew she did whenever she was crazy nervous and agitated. It helped her to realize there wouldn't be any unwelcoming even if they'd broken off contact and their rocky relationship wasn't exactly…blooming. Why should she, the great devil hunter, be afraid of visiting one idiot demon?! No chance in hell!

At least Lady could always count on the half-devil donning a trench coat encompassing his entire form, _to be_ cooped up _somewhere_ inside. Knowing she actually_ had_ a person in her life that had yet to fade away, _unlike her distanced friends, her loving mother and ultimately her delusional father_…is what made her smile sincerely, as rare as that could be. Standing in front of the brass double doors, the windows on them smudged enough so it was incapable of being looked into, Lady could almost say she was _happy_ to be back.

That is until…Lady saw it.

Two eyes; one of red, the other of turquois, followed the logo prudently from beginning to end, one palm tightening upon the band at the shoulder, the other balling into a fist. Those same mismatched eyes stared in obvious revolted skepticism, of disbelief. Her feet halted themselves.

It was wrong; the sign was wrong.

"Since when the hell did he rename it Devil _Never _Cry?!"

_**~Devil [XMayX] **__**Never Cry~**_

* * *

_**{A/N}**__ The reason why the May looks weird above is because there was no option to have a line crossing through the word, that's what is supposed to be there instead. __Give me a style rating how it was so far, D or S, or something in between? Tell me what you think of Lady's fighting style, similar to the game? Am I only the one that wishes she was in more games as a playable character besides Project X Zone?_

_Anyway, hope you enjoyed it so far, and find out how this will unravel into the re-renaming of the shop by the time of the anime. Until __**Mission 2: Old Friends and New Debts**__! Stay tuned!_

_Leave a lil' follow, favorite or the best, a review for my crackish needs and so all the Devil May Cry characters can buy a gigantic pizza…with no olives of course. I'm really afraid this will become smothered away by other fanfictions because so many are always updated fo DMC. Please, make my day XD_

_I'm out._

**End of Mission 1**


	2. Mission 2

**Mission 2: Old Friends and New Debts**

_**{A/N} **__Happy belated Valentine's Day! How has everyone been? (If anyone is actually out there). I decided to post this right after Valentine's Day because posting it on the date would be too cliché for me...I'm suuuuch a rebel. Besides, Dante and Lady aren't very lovely-dovey, so they'd be a little late to celebrate. Here's the second chapter, as promised. _

**NOTICE REALLY IMPORTANT FOR CHAPTER**: _In the opening of DMC 1, there's a motorcycle parked out front of Devil May Cry before Trish uses it to bust down the door and eventually throw it at Dante. It's not Trish's bike because she fell from the sky (don't ask how, just rewatch it) Also, Lady had a red motorcycle in both DMC 3 AND in the anime. The one in the anime looks almost identical to the bike in DMC 1. Dante had a black motorcycle in the anime. Plus, he didn't seem that upset when a random woman just tore down his door with "his" motorcycle. Because it wasn't his motorcycle, and he always breaks down his door anyway lol (Well TECHNICALLY Lady wasn't invented until 2005 blah blah blah, but it still makes sense if it were her bike, they just didn't think about that at the time). SO, it seems pretty legitimate that the red motorcycle Trish rode into Devil May Cry with and that was parked out front before Trish arrived was actually Lady's motorcycle. Maybe Lady left it with Dante for safekeeping. I say safekeeping because Lady was gone for a while after the events of DMC 1 and didn't know Trish was Dante's partner until Episode 4 of the anime._

_All that is important for the story…that's why I pointed it out. If it didn't make much sense, reread it until the details clear up! _

_One more thing! I just want to thank those who reviewed, followed and/or favorited, 'cause this is for you guys out there._

_So come on! Read, review and hopefully enjoy. XD_

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Devil May Cry or anything related to the franchise, because if I did, DMC 5 would have come out in like, 2010 and Lady would be a playable character!

* * *

**Mission 2: Old Friends and New Debts**

Dante heard the door creak ajar, the tarnished hinges protesting resistance to the forceful push. He moreover, heard the familiar footsteps; graceful, yet able to hold great magnitude within each stride.

They traversed the timber floorboards, all the way to his desk and stopped…but he was far too engrossed within the pages of a glossy magazine to look up. Of course the proprietor undoubtedly knew _exactly_ who stood at the foot of his desk, scrutinizing him impatiently with two conflicting eyes flickering over the sorry sight. And even though he possessed the strong senses of a demon, it didn't take a psychic to feel the presence of_ this_ woman.

Orange twilight filtered through the translucent curtains draped shoddily over the windows, streaking dusk light across the soot filled floor in even, tempered lines of luminance. Fewer poster prints layered the office walls than what she last remembered, although the positions of what minor furniture he possessed were in their rightful places. There was a flat, cardboard box stained with oil smears dominating space on the desktop. Only one pizza wedge remained inside… An antiquated telephone sat at the far corner. Contrasting it on the other side of the desk lay an aged picture frame… In it, she knew there to be a beautiful blonde woman. Never did Lady bother to ask who that person was after all those years; always figured it was his mother, Eva. Such questions she never felt…desirable to probe through…too personal.

She had expected to find him in a state like this; lazy, filthy combat boots bolstered onto the lacquer top, gaze mingled between colorful pictures and tiny printed letters, holding up a half eaten slice of pizza awaiting its imminent fate… Normality at the_ peak_ of Dante's _not so normal_ existence. His eyes that she knew to be a charming azure were veiled beneath a drape of overgrown silvery locks reaching to mask the entire man's face if scissors didn't soon intervene.

Neither person chose to give a greeting. Maybe Dante just didn't know what the hell to say…

And Lady…well, she was waiting for him to say _anything_, or to at least give acknowledgment in some form for her sudden reemergence in his life.

As always, Dante gave little impression of amazement. He didn't care. She should've known.

It was the female who reluctantly began conversation.

He held in a flinch when Lady's voice started with a stagger forward, reminding him all too much of her bellicose driving skills whenever she used to unsuccessfully shift, _more like heave_ into first gear on his car. Notably…it was thick with something else unidentifiable. "What…what happened to the sign outside?" she queried.

Surprise? _Anger_? Take your pick.

Dante shifted slightly in the chair, making no effort of moving otherwise as his back sunk into the hard, unforgiving lumber, undivided attention coiling ever deeper into another extravagant article. "What do you mean _what happened_?" the half-demon had yet to look up. It ticked her off. At this point, Lady became more than certain it was his way of being his typical devilishly irritating self by tuning her voice out entirely.

No "_how are you_"s or "_It's been a while_"s. Seemed like every sentence they chose to share was indicated with some form of building animosity. _After all this time,_ still the man wearing a red coat and carrying twin pistols found no reason to express any consideration for her. Dear sentiment was another ephemeral breeze passing their backs, of days forgotten. Once again, the ravenette felt two hands tauten at her sides, jaw gritting as if in pain. _Did he even miss her one bit these last years?_

Portions of greasy cheese and pepperoni plummeted onto the desk, as well as the magazine being harshly snatched away from the hunter's despairing clutches. "H-hey!" his protest gone unheard. To add to that, the already much exasperated man was dragged to his feet by his difficult acquaintance and practically hauled out the door! Where then she stopped right in front, promptly breaking off the connection of her hands on his. They stood in front of the shop. Lethargically, Dante scratched the back of his albino head.

Now why the hell would she drag him outside…

Lady belligerently pointed to the bright sign above them, as if she were stabbing at it, or more accurately, the _specific word_ nestled between the other two. The bad weed in a pretty garden...at least in her eyes. "I haven't seen you in a really long time, and suddenly when I do get back, you changed the name of Devil May Cry. Since when did you rename it Devil _Never_ Cry?!"

"Since you went abroad for a while." he stated bluntly. Gloved fists were propped to his hips, proudly ready to justify the fresher logo. "_I _don't think it looks too shabby, looks pretty damn good to me."

"_Unbelievable_. Your sense of style is terrible as always."

Yeah…and she sure was _bitchy as always… _They never could very well just…get along. So why did they bother associating with one another? Why should she even bother showing her face here after all this time? Understanding women was a task Dante rather not attend to, and understanding this specific woman he had come to calling Lady…was like trying to explain the space-time continuum to a kindergartner… Even so, he'd learned and adjusted to going with the flow, despite the way her mere presence could cause his head to throb to the point of implosion. No amount of pain pills would stop that…

Well, he did sort of enjoy her company. _True_, she had been the main, recurring woman of his deepest sexual fantasies since they'd first met…_ One who was of course, much gentler in his dreams…and the two weren't completely friend zoning each other for years. Not to mention, she wasn't trying to kill him either. _That was a guilty little phase though. Actually having Lady as _his_ was a fate worse than death, he had come to presuming.

He scoffed at the rude woman beside him "_Case in point,_ it wouldn't be _my style_ that's terrible, considering how a friend of mine gave me the idea of changing the shop name."

A bogus laugh escalated beyond her pink lips, looking untrustingly soft in the last fading rays of the setting sun, the rosy rouge being subtle enough to make it seem natural. "You actually _have _friends? I don't see any of them hanging around here, that's for sure." The female snidely countered.

"She was staying here for a while when you haven't been around. She just left a couple of days before you showed up." Dante was referring to a blonde demoness donning jet-black, as dark as a starless night. A woman, Trish, who remarkably resembled the appearance of his deceased mother, who had only recently left to pursue a career of devil hunting on her own. Little did Lady know that though… The two violent, fearsome women had yet to meet. Their schedules and interactions with Dante were on a completely diverse wavelength, considering how he'd known Trish in the same years Lady had been more or less vacant.

"_She_?" He could've sworn Lady had reacted…suspiciously, bitterly? _Nah_.

Wait…

_Surely_, Dante wordlessly chided, they would have _quite the introduction_; as he demonstrated his silent judgments instead, with the most perfectly, guileful grin ever produced. It graced his faultlessly sculpted, pastel features in the utmost fitting way.

"Yeah_. She._ Why, _are you feeling a little jealous babe?_ I'll be sure to tell her my psycho Lady friend wants to have a few words. I'd love to see the catfight that'd ensue out of it. Hey, maybe we could even sell tickets for the performance!"

…_Babe_, it's been a while since he bothered using that ridiculous little nickname with her and she began to wonder if it would hurt a demon if they were kicked in the balls. Thus, Lady realized her stupid, big mouth always sounded too defensive, and would be mistaken for something like girly romanticism; maybe jealousy, or some other ludicrous female flaw she wouldn't _ever _venture to exemplify, nor embrace at _any time_ for the imp of a man. Feelings weren't on her priority list. Neither was jealousy, or any irrational feeling towards _Dante_ of all people. The implication of such a thing through his assiduous mocking over the years…_even though it truly did subside _was still a nuisance the huntress loathed.

The devious smile made her stomach roll over…and do another backflip to add. She knew, _he knew _it did that to her. And Lady wasn't about to give him the luxury of witnessing her break under pressure. "_Ha_. _Ha_. You're lame ass sense of humor is _sooooo _funny. Makes me want to die from laughter…Or vomit."

"Ouch, that's harsh… Shoot me in the heart while you're at it." Though grimacing, it didn't take long for the comical look of false offense to spread a smile to her own lips. They both laughed for the first time together it what felt like years. It was…years, _and he probably didn't even notice. _He continued on. "_But_, at any rate it's not too bad seeing you again, Lady."

"I guess you're pretty tolerable today too, Dante. Good to be back."

She turned away, looking behind her to keep an eye on her changeless shadow again…and scanned the road in the front of "Devil Never Cry" then looked back to him with another one of those questioning looks she commonly gave. They always made her eyes shine with mixed emotion. "By the way, where's my motorcycle? It's not parked out here…Did you move it?"

"What motorcycle?" As if missing the punch line of some badly planned joke, his brow furled tensely, parallel lines creating the image of aging wrinkles.

Lady's resulting expression went from cheerful, to solemn, replaced with the dim shade blotting her smile and the glint of her multi-colored gaze. He awaited her gripe. One would always manage to come, eventually. "The red motorcycle! The one I left out front two years ago in your care, when I went traveling!"

"Oh…shit…That uh…well, I'll be honest…" His fingers swept away his unkempt bangs, wherein Lady finally saw those very eyes she failed in forgetting, the disquiet hidden inside the frosty hue; cold ice reflecting off the profound blue of a clear sky. "It got...wrecked. It's gone Lady."

There was brief silence, regardless of the light gust which came by to ruffle Lady's short black hair. It further masked her outward expression from view.

She flipped like a switch, the very same switch that ironically _activated the self-destruct button_…

"That's the second one YOU ASSHOLE!" Two fingers sprouted accusingly before him. "YOU TOTALED TWO OF MY BIKES?!" her voice never raised to shrill heights like other women. But it could get loud, terrifying in its own right even though her _menacing _height barely made it up to the half-demon's chin. What was surprising was when she reached for her handgun strapped at her pleated, green-brown skirt, pointing it dead center on the pallid skin of his forehead. _Then again_, when had the threat of a bullet to his skull _ever_ been such a surprise from Lady, really?

Devil Never Cry's owner reacted to this swiftly as one could; raised two palms in defense. "Hey, hey! Ease back a bit, woman! I'm not the one who crashed this one…" he insisted, though he was sure it would come to no avail…Any second that gun would go off and BAM, _another_ chunk of metal to fish out of his head.

"Then who was it?!"

"My uh…my friend…"

Her face blazed with an inferno red, and Dante unintentionally eased back a half step. "THE SAME _'FRIEND'_ WHO RENAMED DEVIL MAY CRY?!" The barrel of the Colt.45 quickly altered its attention to the Devil Never Cry sign rather than the pitiful man's cranium and just for a moment he dreaded that she may pull the trigger there instead, considering the way her fingers trembled erratically on the pistol while her voice ranted on and on. Everyone was always messing up his property, paying for a new sign again would be a hindrance…

"Yup."

"I swear to God…I'm gonna kill that bitch when I see her!" To Lady, she was wondering who the fuck the skank was that she felt she could strut around like _she owned _Dante, Devil May Cry and her bike! What kind of women did Dante associate with in his spare time?! _Was he dating her?_ Did they break up, so she smashed Lady's motorcycle thinking it was Dante's bike?! Maybe the crazy bitch thought…oh god… She grimaced at the last idea, which she_ really_ wished wasn't true.

Dante couldn't contain the laugh at who Lady desired to kill. In the midst of a fight, the experienced combatant himself…really couldn't pinpoint who would be standing victorious by the end, Lady or Trish…Then again, when Lady wanted a demon dead, they usually were obliterated from all known existence…He decided it would be better to not reveal too much information on Trish, even though the scheming she-devil had been his partner in the years that Lady was gone. Best not to rat her out _too much_ for smashing the bike…

"Good luck with that. Like I said, that's gonna be quite the catfight." snickering began to rise. Fortunately, the brunette's aim on the neon sign began to lower, the metal gun regressing down to the concrete ground instead, much to Dante's respite. The dark haired lady did however, still squint up at the words "Devil Never Cry" above them as if her negative perspective would somehow magically shift to acceptance. 'Cause now, she had something much more important to be pissed off about.

"You must have been pretty _damn_ close with her…if you let her ride _MY_ motorcycle without _MY _permission."

"Well…she didn't ask me if she could use it. And she kinda broke down my door with the thing…You chicks can be pretty psycho when you want to be, man. Is that what PMS causes? Glad I'm not a woman…though I'd probably be a pretty _sexy _one if I was." The half-devil caressed his smooth shaven chin. Lady's face contorted.

So the woman_ did_ destroy Lady's motorcycle out of revenge! The woman who smashed her bike must have been his ex-girlfriend and she probably assumed Lady was a woman Dante was having an affair with because maybe he mentioned her somehow. Then, she probably smashed her motorcycle and broke up with Dante to get back at him for cheating! But Dante wasn't cheating with her! That's the convoluted scenario Lady made up in her mind, that she was absolutely sure of, registering the thoughts with complete aversion. What kind of a woman would date _Dante anyway_?! And who the hell assumed she; _Lady_, would have sex with _him_?!

Two fingers went to massage her sore temples, an aching migraine straining her thoughts of the misfortune befalling her return to Capulet City. "Ugh…Do you ever shut up, you narcissistic idiot?! I don't care about your stupid love life or what stuff of _yours _gets broken! Just make sure it's not _my_ stuff!"

"_Love_ life?" _Oh boy_. Lady didn't think that he was actually _with_ Trish, did she? This was way too much too explain and he was in no particular mood to do so… "Hey, I'm just trying to lighten the mood is all. No use crying over spilt milk…or smashed metal. Best if you just got a new motorbike."

"_So_ am I getting some compensation for this? After all, it was_ you_ who was responsible for taking care of it in my absence." A hand outstretched towards him, beckoning like the taunts he used against demons whenever he'd say something snarky like "c'mon, wimp". It enclosed, then opened again; a greedy little claw begging for some cold, hard cash to be dropped within. "_Pay_ _up_." she demanded.

Dante to this day could not fathom why this devil of a woman got off on torturing him…

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gimme a minute. Dammit, always responsible for other people's shit when it wasn't even my fault…It's not like you gave me a choice when you took off and left your damn bike! This is what that stupid lizard on T.V. is for….Gecko, Geico whatever the fuck… Can save you 15% or more on car insurance or somethin'." He mumbled off to himself incoherently.

Crimson tassels floated elegantly past her, the leather reflecting off the sign's incandescent glow while the owner of the same trench coat jammed his hands deep within its pockets. He took no hurry in walking back, coolly striding into the office with each disinclined foot hitting the next step harder than the last. She followed. Damn. The day just started for him, Lady only just returned and already he had big, burning hot holes in his savings account! Go figure! There was a cruel urge to slam the oak wood door in the dual-eyed woman's face, which the _fearless_ devil hunter wouldn't ever dare do… Mostly for _fear_ of the onslaught of bullets that would likely end up garnishing the cheap, plasterboard walls making up Devil May Cry…

…Right, sometimes he even still forgets that the name Devil _May_ Cry had been scrapped two years ago.

_**~Devil Never Cry~**_

* * *

_**{A/N} **__Any style rating for me? Like I mentioned before, I tried to keep them in character to their interactions many years after Devil May Cry 3, a few years after Devil May Cry 1 and a year before the events of the anime. Any questions? Any comments? Did everything make sense, and was all the dialogue understood? Follow, favorite and review if you'd like!_

_Like I mentioned also, that motorcycle is supposed to be the one Trish smashed in Part 1 that was parked out front of Devil May Cry before she confronted Dante. My theory is it was Lady's. Watch the cut scenes again! You'll see what I mean!_

This will hopefully continue on, starting with all the freakin' money Dante owes Lady for the bike in **Mission 3: Far From Love**. Don't miss it!

Leave a lil' review to pay for repairs on Lady's guns so she can shoot Dante in the head again, and she can't pay for the repairs since Dante borrowed all her money and also can't pay back his debts… And like I said before, review for the sake of this Fanfiction to continue on. How am I supposed to know what you guys think? Thanks!

Adios, kids. -Dante

**End of Mission 2**


	3. Mission 3

**Mission 3: Far From Love**

_**{A/N}: **__How's everyone been? If any of you have watched the anime…which I reeeeeally hope you did (it's one of the only anime I watch in English because Dante's anime voice is the same guy from 3 and 4 although he's under an alias), then you might notice this chapter title is referencing Mission 3 of the anime "Not Love". In the episode preview at the end of episode 2, Dante says "There are people out there who would say that there is nothing more important than love. But is love really that great? There are women who, because of love, get chased around by men…And there are men that, because of love, get killed by women. To boil it down, for love to be so great, there's gotta be something else behind it that's even greater. But I'm not gonna tell you what that is, it's not my style." It really reminded me of his relationship with Lady…_

_This chapter is pretty long…I don't know if anyone is actually gonna end up reading it in one sitting haha. Hard to have so much dialogue while keeping detail._

_**NOTICE IMPORTANT REFERENCE: **__There's a joke in here that some people might not understand. Devil May Cry 1 was originally intended by Capcom to be Part 4 in the Resident Evil franchise. However, it became so different in the genre, gameplay, and storyline during development that they just decided to make Devil May Cry a new franchise entirely. Thus, DMC was born. Look it up._

_Anyway, hope everyone enjoys the show!_

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Devil May Cry or anything related to the franchise, because if I did, the Devil May Cry 3 manga's third chapter Code 3: Lady wouldn't have been canceled! I really wanted to see more insight into her backstory!

* * *

**Mission 3: Far From Love**

"Here." An organized stack of paper wrapped up tight in rubber bands was roughly slapped onto the rickety bureau; it didn't go unnoticed by the brunette female that it'd been tossed with implied…hostility. Lady planted her hands against the edge of the same hardwood tabletop where also, a pair of black leather boots once again indolently and stubbornly rested.

The pile of dollar bills was crossly observed. Just by eyeing it briefly, her perusing, contradictory colored glare could estimate about $5,000.00 was being _not so generously_ offered. "What the hell's _this_ chump change?"

"It's all I can spare." Dante shrugged.

Death glares were shot the lazy devil's way. They closely rivaled the potent rockets that were routinely blasted from the bazooka she trekked around wherever her demon hunting required. Favorable for the pale haired crossbreed's fate, Kalina Ann currently inclined against the partition beside the door; an encumbrance relieved from the fighter's alleviated body for the time being. So in this moment, her unsympathetic stares would serve_ enough_ as threats for getting more forked over.

"_Fine_, geez…" Once more, he sifted through the jam-packed drawer, chucking out a couple of identical piles of green while releasing a heaving groan. "There. That should be enough to cover it." …If this evil mistress wasn't satisfied with $15,000.00, there was little hope left for this cruel world; demons overwhelming the planet aside.

And of course, Lady wasn't satisfied with _anything_ he did.

"Bullshit! That was a vintage bike and finding one to replicate it is gonna take time, and that's not counting that the expenses are undoubtedly going to be insane. Plus, that's not counting the fact that I entrusted _you_ with it, to which _you _weren't responsible. Not just that. You let some woman I don't even know destroy it without any repercussions! And if you haven't forgotten my first motorcycle I ever bought…was smashed by_ you_ without me even knowing _it was you_ until several years later. All that time I thought it just got lost! To top it off, I was expecting _no scratches_, _no marks_ and now it's _completely _totaled. This is as much the principle of the situation, as it is paying me for the damages so I think that-"

"ENOUGH ALREADY! Take _all_ the frickin' money you goddamn blackmailer!" For the_ last_ time, grudging hands reached into the drawer, dumping out the last of the savings he'd somehow managed to accumulate until now, included within; money for the monthly mortgage payments, all the utility bills…along with enough to buy a year's worth of pizza. All the self-control it took _not_ to spend…_down the drain._ Not gone without it, was the fraught "Humph." accompanied by folding one's arms over the chest, a gesture of closing off from others. _Oh_, Trish was gonna _hear it_ for annihilating that stupid bike.

What a carefree guy…keeping all that money inside an unlocked desk, inside an unlocked office… Lady knew the male hybrid never would properly secure the door. Mainly it was due to the logic that the owner could effortlessly confront any unfortunate thief who was _stupid enough_ to break into a demon's home. _If Lady_ ever wanted, _she alone_ could have _easily _reached into that homely desk to collect all that coveted cash plus_ more_. Getting him to submit though, to accept what she wanted and to ultimately bend to her whim…was so much more _satisfying_. She beamed victoriously while he dared to peak at her counting the individual hundred dollar bills, licking the tip of a finger to ensure each paper wouldn't stick.

The half-demon however, was not privy to being someone's personal bitch; the ticking time bomb was ready to go off.

He went to reach for that last slice of pizza in the box soon going cold by then without looking…simply to find it mysteriously gone. Well that was…strange… The man was baffled. After all, he was sure he'd left one piece in there…

Heart thrashing sporadically, restraining the gasp for oxygen, Dante looked suspiciously at the sheer cause _of all his suffering_. N_o… Not the pizza too… _Sure enough, there was sassy little Lady taking delicate, almost _teasing_ nibbles out of that very same slice of pizza; _his last_ _slice of pizza_. She looked back to him with a questioning facade. "What. I was hungry. I didn't eat anything all day, after all." this owing to the poor breakfast she couldn't force herself to swallow down on the train to get here.

_One of these days_…one of these days Dante might just kill her if she didn't end up killing him first. Latter of the two possibilities was feasibly more likely…

Rather than dwelling on the two losses of the day, attention resumed back to the paperback booklet lied flat on the same desk tottering upon four unsteady pegs, begging to give way and be tossed out on trash day. It'd been endlessly tortured with half of the man's weight ever since the business opened.

"I still think Devil _May_ Cry sounds a lot more catchy than Devil _Never_ Cry. Just saying." Thin fingers carefully graced the top edges of the page he was beholding, tipping them just enough so she could peek at his maddened expression past the booklet. Bi-colored irises and the diminishing scar crossing the bridge of her nose were seamlessly visible above the magazine. He ignored her as she pulled it down. It was like Lady was_ forcing_ the exasperated devil man to focus all attention on her. Dante didn't glance up, continuing to read a paragraph mostly out of spiting the evil female. Her entire torso was practically on top of the table! She leaned forward beseeching for one, simple glance. The thin booklet possessing eye catching headings and risqué photos was further lowered.

His nose remained in the pages. _Again_, the magazine was persistently pulled enough by the woman so her entire face was noticeable. "You don't agree?" she asked innocently.

"Can we not bring this up right now? Please? I'm really trying to get my studying in…Studying meaning, looking at these busty blonde babes and not _wasting_ time talking to you."

"What, am I not _pretty enough_ to look at?" Hazy pupils contained in cages of turquoise and crimson dilated while Lady stared at Dante, her face a mere, few inches from his own. Their appearances didn't at all mirror one another; intensely colored orbs contrasting washed-out pale ones, ebony tresses against ivory locks…and a devious smile refuting an honest frown.

Out of the top corners of his lids, he could see the female slayer with profound clarity, those _eyes_ especially. Such a rare oddity in humans, almost as strange as pure white hair on a man of such young years; those uniquely tinted orbs possessed by none other... Of course, he'd never considered Lady's heterochromia odd; they were attractive _because _of that uniqueness. Which, that was something Dante found too cheesy_ even for him_ to disclose to her. In fact, her eyes didn't surprise him that much. He felt more…_human_ looking into mismatched irises. No doubt, the demon fighting warriors were _both_…discolored eccentricities in this not so perfect world. Nothing wrong with that. And the scar traversing her nose; Dante always believed it well suited her rough and tough image. Other girls would probably have a nervous breakdown about a little blemish. On the other hand, Lady was littered with scars on the legs as well, and wasn't hesitant to flaunt them openly.

He kind of respected her for that. It made Dante wish he had at least one scar to call his own…

Now as for her question to not being pretty enough? Well…Let's say it wasn't Dante's _style_ to say a compliment like "beautiful" or "breathtaking", particularly when it concerned Lady.

Lukewarm, was the half smile loped over entrancing lips. "If I didn't know you better, I'd think you were self-conscious. _Not pretty enough?_ Tch…_That's_ not the problem. It's more like there's no possibility of me flirting with you or complimenting you without getting a _bullet_ in my skull. And I know so, because I learned that the hard way…through personal experience. At least these women in the magazine don't argue. _And_ they don't bother me _or _use me to buy random crap." He missed the way she rolled her eyes, then averted her demanding gaze to the stuffed demonic corpses sagging from the walls, their mouths agape in wordless threats and soundless screams.

"Whatever."

Delicate odors of lingering musk remained around the weathered office, although not depraving enough to cause any unease. Dust particles danced without regulation in the far corners of the room, only clearly beheld beside the lamp light, and surging against the street beams overlapping through the window's exposed shutters. Despite the fact that Dante worked little…and cleaned even less, his office wasn't in_ too_ bad of a shape. Better than usual, honestly.

Setting her sights on the pool table to the left, the huntress grabbed a certain pole. She didn't make any effort to reorganize the spheres inside the triangular rack and bother breaking them to start a round. There probably wouldn't be enough time to finish a game…since her presence here most certainly wasn't wanted. Proceeding to play billiards, her best game, she leaned against the end rail and aimed like a pro.

There, Dante decided on giving full attention; when she wasn't completely _expecting_ it from him. It wasn't that he didn't examine the devil huntress before. Just, now he could fully take in the details without someone else returning the stare.

The chalky tip hit the cue ball. It knocked first into two striped ones, green and red which were precisely close together. Which then, they ended up bouncing off the emerald felt barriers at the most devilishly accurate angle, perfectly ricocheting into two more spheres; being the eight ball and the other once again the pastel plain ball originally bumped. They then met with each other and knocked directly into a particular solid scarlet globe, sliding feebly close to one of the six holes.

It landed right into the pocket, the thud of the red pool ball echoing around the spacious office with a soft, soothing clack of victory.

"_Bingo_." chimed Lady, afore looking back to Dante again. Much to her ire, he was devoid to any responsiveness. Huh…she thought he'd have been watching. Leaning over, she focused on the cue stick to knock out the rest of them.

A chagrin pout plastered his well sculpted features, though she failed to see it.

When she turned is when he lowered the magazine by a few centimeters…

What the hell was the point of going through the trouble of hitting one ball, that hit another…that hit another? Usually when Dante played, only the cue ball was used to knock whatever poor ball, striped or solid, that he had eyes on. It held the same desired effect. With Lady however, she had to make everything so damn complicated, with confusing angles and much pre-planning.

They stayed like this for a while._ Silence deafening, _aside from the occasional clicks of pool balls rolling along the green board_, unavoidably crashing into each other the more they tried their utmost to bypass the inevitable collision._

* * *

Interest in the laminated pages already shriveled away and died. Finally, an effort was made to brush away the snowy mop of bangs obscuring the view.

She won their little mind game and didn't even know it. Dante couldn't help but watch her.

As memory served, Lady still donned the same getup from when they first met, save for footwear traded to a brown pair in a similar fashion, most likely due to the collateral damage of running from demons. Scratch that…Dante after fully sizing up her slightly bent over form…could see somewhat under the miniskirt, that her shorts were a different shade; midnight blue rather than a murky purple. He'd always considered those tight, enticing shorts to be such a tease, preventing the _desired sight_ beneath the _too short_ skirt. The bleached top seemed to be from the same material of an old school uniform. Same with the plaid skirt, though it had been hemmed and sewn so there were pockets meant for gun cartridges and holsters for weapons. Small details didn't elude Dante either. He noticed she wore the same red gem around the neck…but with a different chain; the silver one replaced with a string of leather. The last necklace probably broke…which was a problem he used to have with his own amulet more than several years ago.

They were so very resilient to change; using the same exact weapons, not changing their hairstyles to radical extents, developing penchants for clothes that were beyond similar to the outfits they'd bore in the past… Perhaps it held some type of sentimental value for them. Or, maybe it was a comfort that when some things _had_ to change _like their own twisted relationship_, other things, more simple things could remain forever stagnant. It helped make the world a lot less unpredictable.

Then…it seemed other aspects of life _did_…come to eventually change. That upset the young woman more than she'd cared to realize earlier. "Devil Never Cry huh…Hmm…It's true a devil never cried over _me_, so…I guess it doesn't really matter what my opinion is on the name of_ your_ shop." The end of the long stick was lifted from the billiard table, meeting the floorboards beneath their feet.

Lady had laughed.

A peculiar laugh it was; coming from her mouth. Too calm, too honest, when usually her sinister giggles held remnants of conniving intent easily concealed by feminine wiles. Now, it was composed, and…_despondent laughing_… The weirdest tingle of cold crawled across his back and settled anxiously somewhere midway up his spine. Stole a breath from his throat, it did. Dante found himself side glancing to the strange woman but she already turned her head away on him…and zipped across to the other side of the room. "I'm bored of that game already. Don't you have anything fun to do around here?"

She just… Sometimes he didn't know what the hell his opinion of her_ should be_. How their relationship could alter so much from when they'd first met, and yet, sometimes felt like it'd reverted back to the start. Another tired groan escaped Dante.

"I wonder how she convinced you to name it that…your female friend." she said in a hushed tone.

He'd thrown his arms onto the top of the chair behind his head, resting it there. "_Oh Lady_, I doubt you came all the way here to nag me about how I changed the name or about getting your bike back. So, what exactly do you_ really_ want from me?"

"Can't a girl just stop by and say hi?" wondering if this ruby coated man would fall for an excuse like that. Deciding the perfect place to park herself was atop his desk, she folded a leg elegantly over the other, running one slow moving finger along the masterfully carpenter crafted edge _directly_ in front of where he sat. He looked up at her dubiously. Dante _almost _thought Lady was trying to seduce him; the way black lashes batted sensually touching the top of her cheeks, and her fingers edged ever closer, her chest leaning in against him, the peeping sight of the woman's cleavage just barely visible from the highest button that popped open on the blouse…

Nevertheless...realization hit hard. This was _Lady_. She'd die…or kill him before you'd catch her flirting with _a demon that stunk like blood _of all men.

He smirked and they unintentionally locked gazes. "A _girl _can come by and chat, but _you_ always have an ulterior plan to go with it. Sometimes I wonder if you're the main antagonist at the end of it all, and I've been blindly fooling myself into thinking _demons_ were the bad guys."

"You don't trust me, eh? Hmm…I'm beginning to see where our line of friendship starts and ends. _Fine_…I'll be nice. _How are you doing lately Dante_?"

"_Way to sound sincere._ Don't take up acting, you'll fail miserably."

"Don't worry, I think I'll stick to demon hunting. Anyway, I'm just curious what you've done with the place, renaming it aside."

"You say it like we haven't seen each other in years…" he replied coldly.

"That's because it's been a couple of years now, dummy."

That's right…over two years now. Of course Dante knew that. Sometimes he'd sit around waiting for the timeworn phone to ring, to let the receiver fly into the air, always hoping it'd be a specific woman on the other end, to see if _that person_ was alright. It never had been Lady. Not once. Other times…Dante thought she had completely forgotten he existed, moved on with her life in some far off city. They'd argued days before her intended departure…and it freaked him out that she wouldn't ever forgive him for some dumb disagreement. Dante wondered if he should have tried harder to forget her…

It was relieving she was alive _and_ well, _and _back_ in_ his life…_and _that wasn't something he would choose to say today.

"Really? I didn't even notice you'd been gone." he lied. Entwining himself into the enticing pictures of whatever hot models, muscle cars, or artillery he wasted time reading about... She wanted to peek over it again, although renounced the impulse of doing so.

"_Ooooh_, sounds like somewhere here missed me. I guess that _other woman_ you were with must have been_ quite_ the company…"

He looked up briefly, eyes widening at the implication being subtly made…

_Whatever_. Lady could make up any fucked up scenario of his relationship with that "unknown" woman. She could assume whatever the hell she wanted; he wasn't gonna waste energy explaining who the female he'd lived with was, nor say that their relationship had been _anything but_ "romantic". For God sakes, Trish looked identical to his mother! Yeah… Dante forgot to mention that bit to Lady also… No wonder she was making up these bizarre theories.

Instead he ignored that statement of hers, refocusing back to the unanswered question of how he'd been doing in her absence. "Yeah…well, I can't complain about much. Been eating my diet of pizza and strawberry sundaes so all is well in the world. You?"

"Nothing really." Hopping from the desk, a notoriously tricky smile was given. Laced up boots landed on the floorboards with the slightest thud. "And you were right all along Dante…I _do_ have an ulterior plan. A job for you actually…"

"I'm not interested." was the answer she got.

"Let me finish, please? Well…let's say a certain lady got too curious and caught wind of some demons…They found out, and now they're hunting her down. It's like they're watching her from afar, stalking her and…" she stopped mid sentence, seeing if he was listening, then continued. "…and she's…scared that one of these days they might catch up to her when she's not on her highest guard. All she needs is a little protection when there's no one else to turn to…You interested yet?" Lady was hopeful, hopeful he'd say yes…

"You're a devil hunter too. _You_ take the job. I don't want it."

_Hope crashed and exploded right in her face._

Lady moped on at the infuriating guy,_ undependable_ as always. "How cold of you to turn your back on an old friend…"

He tilted his head with a restrained frown when he'd eyed her again, raising eyebrows at the peculiar visage. It appeared the female devil hunter's nighttime schedules were finally catching up to her. Dark circles beneath her lids drew heavy expressions and weary penumbras over her youthful face, creating something unlike the confidence that ordinarily entailed Lady in her entirety. Even Lady's black tresses gave the impression of disarray, lackluster in sheen. The last time she seemed this drained was within the library of Temen-ni-gru…Even then, always ready to pull a trigger, despite the heavy breathing, the pain of deep injuries, exhaustion, loss of confidence and the confusion of where she stood, _where they both stood_.

But the half-demon doesn't like remembering things like that, those…supposedly forgotten days. So, he bowed his neck back to the cover of the magazine. "Because the jobs you gave me before_ never_ paid well. And I'm_ really_ low on cash at the moment, thanks to you."

"If she dies because you didn't take the job, she's gonna come back to haunt you, you know."

"That's what ghost busters are for, _duh_. Huh…I fight off rip offs of the Exorcist movie, and they fight Casper the Friendly frickin' Ghost…For some reason I feel like I've gotten the shitty end of _that_ stick." Dante chuckled to himself, Lady eyeing him abhorrently. "But do you see? I don't have jack squat to worry about, babe. Ghosts or demons. Besides, this woman doesn't even know who I am! Why would she haunt _me_?"

The same nickname for a second time…_babe_. That damn word made her back cringe!

"I hope you realize Ghostbusters are a _movie _and don't actually exist…" she clarified haughtily, placing hands at the hips.

"Lady, where is your faith?! That's like saying _we_ don't exist, and we're actually videogame characters conjured up by a company when they were trying to make a bad sequel to some zombie franchise…"

"Why would anyone _choose_ to make a character like you?! You're like the corniest guy who ever lived! What terrible writing _that _would be…"

"You're just a hater to my good looks _and_ my flawless personality, that's all."

Tangents like these were common between them, when they'd originally been discussing a job, a _specific _job that held the very life and fate of a human, a _woman's _well being. _Not _ghosts, or videogames or Dante's "attractiveness" or anything else that stupid! Lady was getting frustrated as she stated "I don't understand why you can't take this work! You need the money, don't you?!"

"See, I'm still a little lost. Let's rewind back a bit… It wouldn't have killed you to call _once _in the last two years… Maybe then you would've realized I say _"Devil Never Cry"_ when I answer the phone now. And you're at _my_ throat for changing the name? Then, you make _me_ pay for a motorcycle_ I_ didn't smash. Now you just expect me to up and help you out with some low paying job like your own personal doormat?_ Thanks_, but _no thanks_." It was behooving to realize Lady went uncharacteristically still; head tilted in such a way that shortened locks of deep cocoa buried every feature off. The hunter was peeved. He didn't stop there. "And if you're so concerned over this_ "random"_ gal's well-being, _enlighten me_. Why can't _you _be the one to help her out?!"

"That's just the problem…I can't." Her regard cast away from his own sneer, resuming to glance at a dark shadow tailing her every move. It wasn't moving, just as she wasn't…_at least not now_.

Sometimes Lady still wondered if there was a demon under that nice guy, carefree, no shits given exterior. A demon with no remorse…only rooted hatred. Regardless, this was _her_ fault,_ her_ own mistakes and _her_ own selfish vindictive nature towards this man. She should have predicted this.

He didn't know she missed him a lot in those years, and that receiving help…was something she certainly didn't desire, not when it completely undermined the confidence of being able to fight demons alone. Not now, even though she desperately needed assistance. Couldn't the idiot tell she was testing him, to see if he cared at all?! That…that she was making up these half-assed excuses about some "random" woman needing help to seem like her natural, cocky, job giving self? When truly…

Truly, _Lady was frightened._

Suddenly, the uncaring owner of the devil hunting agency got up, the squeaky dilapidated legs of the seat earsplitting, as the wooden chair slid back almost bumping against the white washed wall.

Several steps were made. Until, Dante stood straight in front of Lady. She shrank back. He stared, and she was losing herself in that gaze. For the briefest moment… part of the inner girl within, expected Dante to…to…

…_to guide her to a wall, sloping close enough to her own flushed face that she could feel the scorching breaths escape his chapped lips as they parted the tiniest bit, their eyes weighing heavy as they closed, moving nearer…and nearer and…_

Or…or do something else to that effect. _Was she blushing?_

Standing like this…made Lady realize how tall the half-demon really was.

_But no_, the offspring of human and demon had merely walked over to the nearby coat hanger beside the door leading to the upstairs. _Not to do what her active, taboo imagination conjured._

Shrugging off the hot red trench coat, Dante delivered a questioning glance to the woman standing in the center of the room, watching each motion he made helplessly…almost longingly…"Is that all you came here for Lady? To _use_ me to do your dirty work?" he asked with an unamused sigh, slowly relieving his constricted arms from the tattered, rolled up sleeves.

"…S-so…so that's what you think of me then?! I see…" she stammered defensively for reasons she didn't know… Dismay flooded inside, and for some other unknown reason her fingers touched the curve of her sea blue eye, and found the strangest dampness welled up in the corner. Must have been tired or something… People's eyes water when they're tired, right? It quickly brushed off onto the white dress shirt before she turned back to the coatless man. In these clothes, there was actually_ something_ beneath that jacket… Quite unlike that _damn _ensemble he'd wore when she first met him; it always used to drive Lady up the wall living with him, when he used to unabashedly take it off, giving no discretion of defined pectorals, and abs glistening with sweat after another ruthless day of devil hunting. Now, it was a red vest like shirt, accompanied by tight black sleeves underneath, buckles traversing the entire front.

He was looking directly at her; it began to make her feel vulnerable. Been a while since his transfixing stare of wintry blue did that…

"I'm sure you wouldn't cry over this lady if the demons got her in the end…It's to be expected. You really don't know her…after all." she said.

That statement…_unknowing to Lady…_jabbed hard into the chest. Like his own sword, far too many times thrusted against his heart.

Never did the silver headed devil remove engrossed scrutiny on her; not as she paced to the door, as she kept staring at the floor behind her, _like controlling her own shadow,_ or when she'd grabbed Kalina Ann, securing the hefty chunk of metal to her reluctant body. And finally, not when the lady stopped at the door either. "Who counted on you anyway…" It was a half-question, half insult stated at the exit. And he felt as if that wasn't the first time he'd heard those particular words leave her mouth. But she didn't look back at him.

Dante could think of nothing to counter her statement and remained quiet.

"Goodbye."

With that simple phrase uttered, the heavy door closed without a sound behind the tensed, faintly shuddering back of that brunette girl. In all honesty, Dante had been fully expecting the wooden board to be slammed with brute force, echoing the resentment withheld, resounding a pesky reminder of what regret should be felt for declining the offer of work.

"Tch… Whatever… Do as you please."

There was no one in Devil Never Cry to hear.

Something was amiss with Lady, ever since she'd returned…the unease, the way she would glance back at her shadow when she thought he wasn't paying attention.

If he wasn't mistaken, Dante could've sworn that Lady was referring to _herself_ when offering up a job to protect an unidentified "lady". Maybe at the moment, the raven haired woman still remained outside of Devil Never Cry, waiting for him to reopen the door, pulling her back inside.

Regardless, no move was taken to follow Lady. As he crashed back into the stilted chair, the legs screamed they would break under further burden. The open magazine was placed across his entire face to block the light.

Nothing had been stated directly. Probably another of countless ploys to get him to take the damn job…he assured himself, _mostly to cast away any hints of guilt lining only a half-human conscious._

In that barren office only occupying a single rubicund wearing individual, Dante was mercifully left with the quiet of the room…and the sudden reflection to his own choices.

**~Devil Never Cry~**

* * *

_**{A/N} **__Did this hit at all in the feels? Were the references understood to the games and anime? I wanted it to seem a bit angsty, although both characters are holding on to the distant past. As always, give a style rating, your opinion on the story and whatever comments you have because it makes my heart burst out of my chest when I read them ^^_

_Up next is _**Mission 4: Nudge of Incentive**, _featuring a cameo of another clever DMC girl. Hope you guys won't miss the next installment! I might take a break from writing this if there aren't any immediate urges from you guys to update. I haven't updated stuff this fast in a looooong time._

_Leave a review to pay for every time Dante smashes something! He destroys motorcycles, bridges, churches, walls, building, kicks down doors (including his own) etc. etc. etc. Dante is literally a natural disaster in the making. Next time they get back to the letter D on the hurricane list, it should be Hurricane Dante!_

_Later!_

_**End of Mission 3**_


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